Annie’s Problem.

Sweet Annie

Annie is now 8.5 years old, she’s still as sweet as ever & a very loving bunny to her Thumper.  Over the last few months I have suspected that her back legs haven’t been quite right, sometimes they looked ‘off’ is the only way to describe them.  The first thing I did was to make sure she was hopping rather than walking.  If a bunny walks rather than hops, it  is a sign that all is not well with the use of the legs. There could be several reasons for that but the commonest is that the bunny is in pain when moving about.  That would then lead you to find out why there is pain. Anyway, I digress, in Annie’s case the clues that I have been spotting that all is not well have been the following:

  • Back legs not looking quite right.
  • Occasionally, she had a tendency to lean more to one side, it was very subtle.
  • Fur becoming stained with urine but on checking not wet.
  • Left back paw always damp underneath & once again stained with urine.
  • A little more dozy than normal, eg. walked into my leg & then lost her balance & fell over.
  • Claws wearing unevenly.

Everything else about Annie was normal, eating, drinking & sleeping.

Annie the old gal!

It was at the annual vaccination that I mentioned all my clues & that the last week or so more of the clues have emerged. The vet tested her legs by outstretching her back legs, one at a time, to see how quickly she pulled them back. Annie was quite slow at pulling them back which indicates something is not quite right.  She had a good Mot & nothing else was found.  The verdict is that she is possibly starting with arthritis more likely of the spine as both legs were slow or Spondylosis is starting.  The first step is for her to go on painkillers to see if that makes a difference.  So we will see what happens, so not looking forward to accepting Annie is getting on a bit.

Here you can see how one side of her is getting stained with urine.

 

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